Emergent ~~~ A Next-Generation Divergent Story

Chapter 3~ Choosing Day

      As I jump off of the train one final time with my mother, I start thinking about what she said.....I mean, why has the search for the Divergent become desperate, or even needed? I really don't know at this point but I guess I'll just go with it. I know this is a tough choice to leave but I think it is right. If Dauntless isn't really safe anymore like my mother says, then Erudite is where I need to go.......It would be the only other faction I think I can handle, initiation wise and behavior wise.

      We jump off the train and I know I am going to leave.....Uncle Caleb is in Erudite but I am still terrified......Erudite was the faction that almost killed my parents many times, but it is the only one where I can be safe, undiscovered, and hopefully a member of the faction.

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      The Hub was very loud and active today as all the factions are gathering together for the Choosing Ceremony, where every 16 year old from each faction will "decide where they belong " and choose their faction that they will be in for the rest of your lives. I sit down with my mother among the other Dauntless and as I am waiting for my name to be called, I try not to show how sad I am to leave her and Dad, and Dauntless. But she must see it, because she wraps me in a tight hug.

  "Its okay Alicia, don't worry. It will be okay no matter where you go. Everything will be okay.", she softly says this to me and I realize she is right. No matter what happens, I will still be who I am and I can stay true to my family. I can still keep them safe

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    It feels like hours before my name is called, but it is only a few minutes  I know I am afraid of leaving, but I am also afraid of staying. One by one, Cara calls us to take the knife, cut our hand, and drop one drop of our blood into the bowl that represents the faction we choose. This one choice will decide the rest of our lives. I am not just nervous, like my mother was, I'm terrified.

  "Alicia Eaton", I hear my name called and I hug my mother tightly, wishing I could just have one more day with her and my father before I choose the faction I will be in forever.

     I walk up to the 5 bowls in the center of the room.... I know I can't stay in Dauntless, so that rules out the coals. Amity would be too cheery... and they drug their population with peace serum, that rules out the soil. Candor, I mean I where do I start with them... I can't go 10 minutes without either telling a lie or keeping a secret, I would never be able to handle them! Abnegation, my mother and father's old faction, just to simple, and you cant as questions or really speak with people unless its helping them. I couldn't do that... Sometimes I never shut up.... but I still have secrets and can lie, which once again rules out Candor. The only thing left is Erudite.....I am just nervous about what my father would think of this choice.

   I walk up to the five bowls in the center of the room and cut my hand slightly with the knife. I try not to shake too much as I look back at my mother one final time before I make my choice. I turn back to the bowls. At this moment everything is racing through my head.

    "Would I make it in Dauntless? Do I talk too much for Abnegation? What if I chose Candor? Would I be found out as Divergent? Would I get kicked out of Amity within a matter of minutes? Would I ever be able to face my mother, with her regrets to Erudite, or my father, with his deep hatred of that faction, ever again if I choose Erudite?"

   I know this is just fear... This is the hardest thing I have ever done! I hold my hand over the bowl of water and let the blood drop. That's it. As Marcus Eaton says "Erudite", everyone knows who I am now. I have made my choice. I am no longer "Alicia Eaton, Dauntless," I am now "Alicia Eaton, Erudite."